We’ve got reached the Remaining 4 of our Spurs Villain Event, the place the winners of every bracket have been decided, and the winners of this spherical will go head-to-head to find out who’s the most important Spurs villain of all time. The heavy favorites principally proceed to prevail. Within the Elite 8 (or Finals for every bracket), three of the highest seeds got here out on high by various margins, together with one kinda-but-not-really “upset” within the fourth.
On the “on courtroom” facet of the bracket, we had Spurs Killers, which was the closest match-up. Derek Fisher’s 0.4 shot plus different killer performs was simply sufficient to beat out Ray Allen’s “The Shot” by a comparatively slim 19% margin. The Soiled Gamers ballot was not as shut as anticipated, with Zaza Pachulia’s slide blowing out Karl Malone’s elbow. The extent at which Pachulia received this one, with 72% of the votes, appears fairly huge, however regardless of Malone’s intensive historical past as a grimy participant (and human being), Pachulia’s play got here within the playoffs and in the end price the Spurs an opportunity at a championship, whereas Malone’s elbow was within the common season.
On the “off courtroom” facet, actions dominated over phrases. Kawhi Leonard’s dynasty-destroying strikes unsurprisingly blew Stephen Jackson’s massive mouth out of the water, and our lone “upset” was the one non-1 vs. 2 match-up of the sequence, the place 4th seed Uncle Dennis Robertson continued his “Cinderella” run by blowing out one other loudmouth in third seed Mark Cuban. Did current information and the newer timeline play a job in his rise over essentially the most infamous haters of the Spurs’ championship period? Fairly potential, however the end result nonetheless means we’ll have a Household Feud within the subsequent spherical.
1. Derek Fisher vs. 1. Zaza Pachulia
This was the inevitable match-up the moment the brackets had been launched. Regardless of a few formidable 2nd seeds, they by no means actually stood an opportunity in opposition to these two behemoths of detrimental Spurs lore. Each left two groups vying for championships questioning “what if,” and each moments are so infamous that the NBA needed to make guidelines in response. Since we’ve extra room with solely two polls right this moment, I figured we’d shake issues up a bit and really make you watch two of the extra painful moments in Spurs historical past to burn them again into your mind, as badly as you might wish to overlook them.
First we’ve the infamous Derek Fisher, who turned a Spurs villain the moment he hit this shot with 0.4 seconds left in Sport 5 in Spherical 2 in 2004. It got here proper after Tim Duncan had simply hit what appeared like an incredible game-winner, there’s nonetheless loads of controversy surrounding the clock, and it precipitated the “0.4 Rule” to be created, which states it’s not possible for a participant to get a catch-and-shoot off in something lower than 0.4 seconds, so something much less means they will solely tip the ball.
And lest anybody overlook, that wasn’t all of the harm Fisher did: there was additionally the no-call foul on Brent Barry in Sport 4 of the 2008 Western Convention Finals, which despatched the Spurs again to LA down 3-1, and he was a pest usually for the 2012 Thunder of their WCF victory over the Spurs. Fisher actually was the Repeat Denier for the Spurs on the peak of their Lakers rivalry.
After which we’ve Pachulia, who additionally obtained a rule named after him after he carelessly (purposefully?) slid below Leonard in Sport 1 of the 2017 WCF in opposition to the Warriors, knocking him out whereas the Spurs had been up by 21 and ending their probabilities at returning to the promised land. After that, any case of a participant interfering with a shooter’s touchdown area turned topic to video evaluate and a possible flagrant 1 or 2 foul. Additionally, unbeknownst on the time, this for all intents and functions marked the tip of Kawhi was a Spur, which we’ll get to in a second.
1. Kawhi Leonard vs. 4. Uncle Dennis Robertson
And now we get to the Household Feud match-up that’s surprisingly related right this moment after the NBA simply laid the hammer down on the Clippers’ Aspiration Scandal, during which they’re accused of circumventing the wage cap to pay Leonard more money at Uncle Dennis’ behest. Kawhi performed the “I’m only a basketball participant who trusted the flawed folks” card and got here away comparatively unscathed with only a $700k high-quality, however he additionally fired Uncle Dennis as his consultant, who’s banned from all NBA exercise for 5 years (ought to have been for all times, in my view).
However that’s neither right here nor there for Spurs, which is one thing everybody wants to recollect when voting. They received’t come out and say it, so we will’t make certain Uncle Dennis demanded the identical impermissible advantages from the Spurs that we all know he did from the Raptors, Lakers and Clippers (though I place the percentages at seemingly). What we do know is he was an enormous affect on Kawhi even again then and most assuredly performed a job in pushing the narrative that the Spurs had mismanaged his harm so he would look much less dangerous when demanding a commerce from the “good” group, with the last word purpose being to get again to LA, and it principally labored. Leonard adopted his lead, stayed away from the group for a lot of the 2017-18 season and even hid in a closet once they tried to examine on him.
It’s exhausting to think about he would have executed all this with out the dangerous affect of his uncle if “all he cares about is basketball,” however right here’s the factor: Leonard is an grownup who had already made virtually $100 million at that time. I absolutely perceive that after the horrible tragedy he endured as a younger teenager — seeing his father murdered proper in entrance of him in a case that has by no means been solved — he wanted a father determine, and that ended up being his maternal uncle. However was there ever a degree the place he thought, “I don’t like the best way that is taking part in out or how folks I care about and have shed blood, sweat and tears with for the final seven years are being portrayed”?
Did he truly not understand he was getting used and brought benefit of by his family? Is he actually a toddler in an NBA participant’s physique who’s so naive and gullible that he couldn’t differentiate what has taking place proper in entrance of him vs. what his uncle was saying? That’s in the end what you’ve gotten resolve when voting. In particularly the Spurs’ case, do you blame Uncle Dennis for negatively influencing Kawhi in opposition to the group, or do you blame Kawhi for going together with it and permitting issues to play out the best way they did? Tell us together with your vote!
